Musikmesse 2018: Burg M1 tube condenser mic, hand-built in Berlin

German manufacturer Burg announced a new tube condenser microphone at Musikmesse this year, the Burg M1. The design comes from German condenser mic royalty Andreas Grosser, known for modding and restoring classic Neumann U 47 microphones in addition to his original work. The Burg M1 is also hand-built in Berlin by engineer Andrew Myburgh.

The microphone uses a Thiersch M7 capsule and works with a Russian tube and custom Haufe transformer. It has adjustable polar patterns (cardioid and figure-8) and a sound its manufacturer describes as “very focused and detailed”. The mic is supposedly able to withstand very high sound pressure while managing low noise and high output. Circuit design is all new, so not another replica of a Neumann or AKG tube mic. That’s all we know about the Burg M1 at the moment.

Price and availability information is unfortunately unavailable, so we reached out to Burg microphones and we will update this post if they write back. However, this is a premium mic, so it’s probably going to cost a lot.

Update — Burg got back with the following information:

“We will be shipping 4 – 6 months from now and the mic will cost 5000 – 5500 euro ex VAT. The price will be confirmed in the coming weeks then we open for pre-orders.

The M1 is basically a mic based on German Heritage of valve mics and more importantly Andreas Grosser’s involvement in it since the 70’s. Andreas’ mission has been to make the famous German mics of the past able to perform their very best and to make them less noisy. So the M1 has been designed with super low noise and is coupled with a very high output. It also handles SPL, like kick drums, very well which is “traditionally” the job for a FET mic. Tonally the M1 is wonderfully open, detailed and textured but this is best heard in your own space.”